


Lost, and Found Again

by charizardfreak



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Colleen hurts my soul, Day 6, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Whumptober 2019, alternate prompt, i head cannon the Green Lion as being a lot younger than the other lions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 16:19:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20933135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charizardfreak/pseuds/charizardfreak
Summary: After Pidge has a nightmare about her mother, the Green Lion decides to pay her a visit, to reassure them both.Written for Whumptober 2019. Day 6 of the alternate prompts list, "Lost".





	Lost, and Found Again

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during season 2, not long after the episode "Greening the Cube".

The Green Lion sat silently in her hanger. Her metal body might have been powered down, but her mind never rested.

It was almost completely dark here, save for the small bit of light glaring from an open laptop down below. Her Paladin had finally fallen asleep after several vargas of struggling to work through a cloud of exhaustion. Green watched the rise and fall of her chest as slept, glad to see the young Paladin finally resting after days of barely sleeping at all.

The Castle was quiet. No one was pacing the halls or fighting gladiators on the training deck. There were no tiny scuffles of mice exploring the rooms or stealing belongings from the sleeping Paladins. Even the Castle itself was quieter than usual, the pipes barely even creaked or groaned. Her fellow Lions were withdrawn, resting their minds within their metal forms. 

It was almost silent. Peaceful.

Green _hated _it.

She hated night cycles! They were so _boring. _She could only sit around in the dark and watch Pidge sleep for about a varga before she started wishing for a Galra attack or a sudden asteroid field or _something _just give her something to do.

Day cycles were better.

Day cycles brought laughter and chaos and life to this old castleship. She could Connect to the Castle and witness everything as if she was a part of it herself. She could watch Hunk cook, eavesdropping as he walked some of the mice through his cooking process. She found the entire practice of cooking food to be utterly fascinating and never grew tired of listening to him explain it. She could watch Shiro and Keith spar on the training deck, marveling at their technique that improved every day, and almost losing her mind over how amazing Shiro’s false arm was. She wished she could get a closer look at it; the technology was astounding! But alas, Shiro would likely not appreciate a giant robot lion sticking her head through the wall to ask to play with his metal arm because she was bored and curious.

Black had once told her that it would be “rude” and “highly destructive”, so that idea was off the table.

A sudden murmur distracted her out of her thoughts. She listened to Pidge grumbling in her sleep about… something. It was hard to make out. If Green could smile, she would. Sleep-talking was another thing she absolutely loved about these new human Paladins. All of them did it, though some more than others. Pidge was certainly one of the more talkative ones. Green reached out to her Connection with the universe. Sometimes, if she was lucky, she could latch on to the thread of Pidge’s dreams and watch the wonderful and confusing mess of images that her brain tossed around as she slept.

She was having a little more trouble with it than she’d like to admit. It was only recently that, thanks to Pidge, she’d been able to reconnect to the universe at all. So, she was a little rusty.

Once, eons ago, Green had the power to Connect to almost anything she wanted. Anywhere, in any reality. It wasn’t uncommon to catch her projecting her mind out into space, past the gates of Oriande and to far planets to watch and observe and learn…

Losing that Connection had been devastating.

Her memories of the Fall were hazy at best. But she remembered her soul being encased in rock as she and her fellow Lions were hurled through space, tearing through realities until they crashed on Daibazaal. She realized immediately upon waking up in her new giant-metal-warship form that her Connection had been weakened astronomically. She couldn’t project herself to other worlds anymore, and she mourned the loss of it. However…

It was so much worse when Trigel died.

Green almost whined at that familiar feeling of a knife twisting deep within her very being.

She couldn’t feel much of anything after that. Not in her own soul, and certainly not in the universe around her. She was so lost, so broken, and so… unaware, that on the day she and Pidge met, she couldn’t even sense her new Paladin until the girl was literally on top of her.

She brushed against _something _in Pidge’s mind, then huffed in frustration as it slipped away, barely a flash of an image in her head. Dream-catching was difficult. Even for an ancient, immortal Lion bound to the soul of the person who’s dreams she was trying to catch. She gave up, sighing to herself as she went back to sitting around, doing nothing.

Her ability to Connect was much stronger now, thanks to Pidge. And the Olkari, they helped, too. But most of the credit went to Pidge. When those stupid cubes shot them down in the Olkari forest, Green had been frustrated and annoyed at how quickly it had sapped her strength. And she could hear Pidge begging her to get up, but it was faint, like she was shouting from far away. She had tried to Connect to the universe then, to draw strength and power from it… only to become frustrated and heartbroken when she couldn’t feel it. It had felt like something was blocking it, like a dam in a river. 

And then Ryner had talked to Pidge. And suddenly, the dam was gone.

It was like Pidge had simply walked up to it and kicked it down. And just like that, her Connection opened up again, and she could feel _everything, _all at once.

What happened next was a blur. But she remembered feeling as if she and Pidge were one and the same. That they could do anything.

Transmuting metal into vines? Taking lines of code and converting them into strands of DNA? Multiplying that DNA into cells that divided at a rate that would put tumor cells to shame until they formed into vines that choked the life out of those stupid (but admittedly fascinating) cubes? Child’s play. Try to mirror THAT, you stupid cubes! 

Green had been absolutely gidy ever since. Black had even commented that she was glad to see Green’s old personality showing itself again. Green hadn’t even realized that she’d been concerned about it…

Green had been practicing every day, trying to get back to the level she used to be at. It was going to take some time, and she had to be careful. She had tried to project a spectral form of herself onto Olkarion one night, and it was almost a disaster. She had simply wanted to practice...

If she could cast herself out now, like she used to be able to do eons ago, maybe she could help find Matt and Sam.

It was a nice thought, and she did manage to actually project a spectral form onto the planet. She’d trotted around through the trees for a bit and sat in the clearing where she and Pidge had bonded, hoping that maybe the spot would help her maintain the Connection for a little awhile.

It had not. After a few varga, she’d been abruptly snapped out of the Connection and returned to her metal body on the Castle of Lions. She’d been completely drained, alarmingly so. It was a good thing that nothing exciting happened for the next few days, or she would have been in major trouble. It would have been super embarrassing to explain to the Black Lion that she could not, in fact, power on and let her Paladin on board due to the fact that she wasted all her energy sneaking out like a rebellious teenage to play in the forest on Olkarion.

She’d have been scrap-metal. No more Green Lion.

Pidge shifted in her sleep, mumbling louder. She was breathing rapidly.

Green listened, suddenly a little concerned. The emotions rolling off Pidge were… painful. She seemed distressed suddenly, like her dream had taken a bad turn.

Pidge let out a whine, and it took all of Green’s strength not to leap to her feet. She had to tell herself that it was just a nightmare, give it a moment, it would pass…

Pidge’s heart was racing; Green could feel it. She hesitated. Maybe she should try and wake her up.

She nudged at Pidge’s mind with her own. Pidge twitched but didn’t wake. Green was about to try again when a heart-shattering wail stopped her in her tracks.

“NO!” Pidge shrieked, “You’re _lying_! She can’t be dead! I- I found them! They’re both right here!”

Green’s mind froze, going completely blank with horror as Pidge started to thrash in a panic.

“No! NO! It’s not fair! I _found_ them! Mom, MOM! Come back! They’re here! They’re right here; I found Matt and Dad. You can’t go! Come back! Come back… PLEASE.”

Green snapped out of it and shoved her mind against Pidge’s as hard as she could. Pidge woke with a violent start, flailing around, tangled in the blanket Shiro had thrown over her shoulder several vargas ago. She wasn’t completely awake, and a heavy, heartbroken sob nearly broke Green into pieces.

She growled loudly, shaking the whole hanger. She was trying to give her Paladin something to focus on, something to ground her.

Pidge froze, she blinked and looked around the hanger in confusion, chest heaving. Green brushed her mind gently against her Paladin’s, concerned. She was not at all surprised when Pidge shoved her away with a sob, throwing up a wall to her mind. Green retreated reluctantly; trying to force Pidge to do anything never ended well for anybody.

Pidge suddenly leaped to her feet, cursing loudly as she got tangled in the blanket. She staggered out the door and almost flew down the hallway.

Green reached out again, willing to risk her Paladin’s anger but unable to make herself keep her distance. Pidge was distracted, however, as she was currently shaking over a toilet bowl and trying not to vomit. Green shifted nervously; had that dream really been that awful? She brushed her Paladin’s mind again. No questions this time, just letting her know she was there. Pidge nudged her away again, much weaker this time, and Green got the message and withdrew, leaving her alone for a bit.

Green ruminated over what just happened. She’d had a nightmare. She’d been calling for her mother… Pain shot through Green’s heart. She knew Pidge didn’t like to talk about it, but the girl carried a lot of guilt over leaving her mother alone on Earth without even a note or a goodbye… Not that she could have done either, they’d all left Earth in such a hurry, but still, she knew Pidge worried over her mother as much as she did for her father and brother.

Eventually, Pidge returned to the hanger. Green watched as she walked over to her station and woke her laptop up, sitting before it and drawing the blanket over her shoulders. She was apparently getting back to work. Green could feel all sorts of negative emotions crackling around her Paladin as she began to type furiously on her keyboard.

Green hesitated, then cautiously reached out again.

_Little one… shouldn’t you try and go back to sleep? _she asked gently.

Pidge whipped around, grabbing a piece of metal off her desk and throwing it behind her with a snarl. It bounced off Green’s leg and shattered on to the floor, filling the hanger with loud clanging and clattering.

“_Piss off, _you glorified hunk of metal! I’ve already told you twice,” she shouted leaping to her feet, and glaring up at Green, “Shut up and _leave me alone._”

Green snatched her mind away like she’d been struck by lightning. She wasn’t fast enough, however, to stop her hurt feelings from leaking through their bond. 

Pidge huffed and went back to her laptop.

Green sat in silence.

After a moment, she felt Black and Red both prod at her mind, concerned about her sudden despondence. She brushed them off, trying to get them to back off before Blue and Yellow noticed, too. They retreated reluctantly but left her to deal with her Paladin on her own.

They understood it was something only she could do.

It was still nice to have their offer of support, though.

She was so lost in thought that she hadn’t realized that she could feel something on her paw.

She refocused on her hanger and realized it was completely dark; Pidge had shut off her laptop. She had climbed onto Greens paw, and was currently curled up on her side, wrapped in the blanket. Green waited, afraid to reach out to her.

After a moment, Pidge’s mind brushed hers.

_I’m sorry. _she thought meekly.

Green purred. _No harm done, little one. _

Pidge shifted and closed her eyes. Green was alarmed when she realized there were tears on her face.

_Do you want to talk about? _she asked gently.

_No. _Pidge replied bluntly, a sob escaping her lips.

_It was about Mom, yes? _Green prompted. _You were shouting in your sleep before you woke up. _

Pidge didn’t answer. She curled in on herself more, pulling the blanket over her head, muffling her sobs as they burst out of her.

_Little one…_

Green didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to comfort her.

_I just wish that I had some way of knowing that she’s okay. _

Green hesitated. Technically, they did, if Green could manage it… but she didn’t want to give her false hope.

_Sleep, little one. We can search for Matt and Dad more easily when you’ve had some rest. _

Pidge hummed, but otherwise didn’t comment.

Green had a sudden idea. She searched through memories Pidge had shared with her through their bond. She stopped on one of her favorites: The Holt family on a warm, sunny Arizona Christmas morning. Pidge was about five years old. A distant family member must have had some sort of blood feud with the Holts: They had gifted _Matthew Holt_ with a _karaoke machine_.

And he was absolutely making his family suffer for it. 

He wasn’t even a little bit talented, but he was giving it his all.

At some point he’d shoved a mic in his sister’s face and yelled “SING, PIDGEON!” and five-year-old Pidge just could not refuse. Sam and Colleen looked torn between the love of how adorable their children were and the agony of how unapologetically _terrible _and _loud _their singing was. 

Green listened to the song in the memory a couple of times; it didn’t seem to be about anything in particular, but it was pretty, and it had something to do with fireflies…

Green began to hum the melody. She could practically hear Pidge’s eyes widen in surprise, her head lifting up to stare at her Lion.

Green hummed louder, letting the vibrations cascade down to her paw, where Pidge laid her head back down and closed her eyes.

_Sap… _Pidge thought as she began to drift off to sleep.

_I am what am. _Green replied. _Love you dearly. Get some sleep. _

_Hmm… You too. _

Green hummed for a few more minutes, until she was sure Pidge had fallen asleep.

Then she steeled herself.

She was going to do it. She was going to try and project herself all the way to Earth and into the Holt’s house. Getting there shouldn’t be a problem. Unlike with Matt and Sam, she knew where Colleen was. There was already an established path there, thanks to Pidge sharing memories of the place with Green. Maintaining the Connection and keeping her spectral form there was going to be a bigger problem; Earth was _so far away… _

But she was going to try. For Pidge. And honestly, she was worried about Colleen herself.

A sharp stab of emotion pierced her mind, accompanied by a growl. Great, _someone _was suddenly awake and being nosey.

It seemed Yellow, Elder Sister, ever the voice of reason, didn’t want her to risk it. Green growled back. She wasn’t going to stay long, like she did on Olkarion! She just needed to get in, check on Colleen, and get out. It would only take a few minutes!

Yellow seemed skeptical, but she didn’t alert Black. She waved Green off with a ‘_don’t say I didn’t warn you!’ _and then retreated back to her own headspace. 

Green huffed. She wasn’t a cub. She was a Lion of Voltron!

With that, she cleared her mind, letting everything else float away.

She concentrated, feeling around sporadically with her mind. She didn’t want to jump in and completely open her mind to the entire universe. The one time she’d made that mistake, she’d been overwhelmed with so many different Connections to every world, every plant, every animal, every bacterium, rock, _grain of sand_\- it had been like being repeatedly struck with millions of meteors all at once, over and over again. It had taken all of her strength to pull herself out, and it had been terrifying and painful and overwhelming…

So, yeah, never again.

Bright green tendrils lit up her head space. She sniffed at one, determined it wasn’t what she was looking for, then dismissed it. It fizzled out, and she moved on to the next, only keeping about twenty Connected at a time. She repeated this process until she found it. Excited, she sank her claws into it and got a flash of noises and images. Yes! This was Earth.

She paused for a moment.

And then she followed the Connection to Earth, leaving her metal body behind with her Paladin. 

***

Green awoke at the Holt house with a gasp as air filled her lungs.

It was jarring to go from being in a giant robot body to suddenly being in a spectral form that did things like _breathing_. She looked similar to an Earth lion, only green and glowing. She had herself camouflaged, though. She didn’t want to give anyone a heart attack.

She had arrived on the doorstep of the garage entrance. She hesitated, suddenly nervous. She checked her Connection and determined it wasn’t going to snap her back anytime soon.

She took a breath.

And push her way through the door like a ghost.

The first thing she noticed was that it was dark.

She was confused at first. It was late afternoon, and the car was in the garage, so Colleen should be home.

Then she noticed all the curtains were drawn, and all the lights were off. In fact, the only light appeared to be coming from the living room. The TV, perhaps?

Green paused in the kitchen, frowning at a small mountain of dishes in the sink. Nearby, were a few bags of trash that been there for a little while. Green’s ears flicked at the sound of flies buzzing around them. The counter was littered with bills, many of which where overdue and threatening the cancelation of some service or another.

Green’s heart sank. This was not off to a good start.

She padded down the hallway, jumping over a couple of overflowing laundry baskets. Grit stuck to her paws, like the floor hadn’t been swept in months. She paused, something looked off about this hallway…

The walls. They were bare. All of the pictures were gone. Green’s heart was in her throat now.

That was bad.

She froze at the entrance of the living room. There was one thing that disturbed her more than everything else. More than the bills. More than missing pictures. More than the filth.

It was the goddamn _plants. _

Colleen was a _botanist, _a borderline obsessive one at that! Matt and Pidge always joked that she probably love her plants more than her children, and definitely more than her husband. The house was covered in plants. Ferns, ivys, flowers… there were even some that she had genetically engineered herself back in grad school, and she kept them here all these years, proudly displayed through out the house.

They were all dead.

Every single one.

Green was devastated. Her throat was closing up and she was trying not to panic.

She sat heavily at the entrance to living room. Her feet had yet to touch the carpet. She stared at the couch in front of her. She could see Colleen lying there, buried under several blankets. Bae Bae was curled up at her feet. The TV was on, but the volume was almost inaudible.

Green was almost afraid to wake her.

She was clearly… not doing well.

Which, honestly, what the hell had Green expected? Her whole family had vanished without a trace.

While she was deliberating, Bae Bae stood up and stretched, yawning. She jumped to floor and ran to the back door.

She whined.

Colleen didn’t hear.

She whined again, scratching at the door with a tiny bark.

Colleen still didn’t move.

Bae Bae ran back into the living room and jumped on Colleen’s chest, yapping once and pawing at her face.

Colleen jolted awake. She groaned.

“Okay,” she rasped, “I’m getting up…”

It took her a minute, but she slowly rose to her feet, sighing the whole way, while Bae Bae danced excitedly around her feet.

“I’m coming, I’m coming…” Colleen grumbled.

Green could only stare at the woman before her.

She was almost unrecognizable.

Her hair, usually short and clean cut, had grown out and was thrown into a haphazard, tangled ponytail with no care at all. Her posture was bowed, and she had clearly lost weight. Her eyes were dull, and her face looked about twenty years older than she actually was. 

Green moved over to let her and the dog walk down the hallway. As she passed, Green realized she was wearing night clothes, which meant she hadn’t left the house today.

Actually, it was possible she hadn’t left the house in several days. Her hair was greasy, and she did not smell great.

She watched in silence, she had no idea what to do, as Colleen made her way to the back door. Bae Bae danced around her feet excitedly. Colleen stopped at the door, fiddling with the locks while Bae Bae hopped up and down happily.

Until the dog came down on Colleen’s bare foot. Colleen flinched in pain as the dog's nails scratched her foot, tearing skin.

“STOP IT!” Colleen shrieked suddenly, practically snarling at the dog.

Bae Bae froze, ears back, eyes cutting up at Colleen.

She wrenched the door open angrily, pointed into the yard and yelled, “Go outside and quit being stupid!”

The dog darted out the door, body low, tail between her legs.

Colleen slammed the door and leaned against it, taking a breath and running a hand over her face. 

Green watched in shock.

And sadness.

Oh, Colleen…

After a few minutes, there was scratching at the door. Colleen opened it and let Bae Bae back in. The dog trotted happily through the door, tail wagging. The incident of being yelled at had already been forgotten.

But for Colleen it clearly hadn’t.

She bent down and gently scooped the dog into her arms.

“I’m sorry,” she whimpered, burring her face in Bae Bae’s hair. Green stiffened. She sounded like she was about to cry.

Bae Bae wiggled happily, licking Colleen’s face while she let out a few wet-sounding giggles. The dog’s tail wagged the whole time.

Green blinked back a few tears of her own. Pidge was right; dogs were amazing.

Colleen put her down and made her way back to the living room.

Straight back to the couch.

Where she collapsed and started pulling blankets back over her. Each movement seamed clunky, like these simple actions of the last few minutes had completely exhausted her.

She lay there, fidgeting slightly, when a whine came from the kitchen, followed by a clattering noise as Bae Bae nosed her empty food bowl across the tile.

Collen groaned and put both her hands on her face. She looked like she was about to cry again. But she sat up and hauled herself to her feet.

“Sorry girl,” she called as she grabbed the dog food from under the counter and filled up the bowl.

She watched the dog eat for a minute, before she got a strange look on her face, like she’d just realized something.

Green watched her go to the fridge and take out some sandwich meat.

Ah, she realized she was hungry.

That lifted Green’s spirits a little bit as she watched Colleen make a sandwich. She took a couple of bites, then made a face, smacking her lips at an apparently bad taste.

Green watched, puzzled, as Colleen yanked the fridge open angrily and looked at the meat she’d just opened.

“Yup, expired,” she growled.

She grabbed several items from the fridge and glared at the dates, huffing as she threw each one on the counter.

“Awesome!” she hissed, “All expired! The one time I actually want to eat…”

She cut off and grabbed the lid off the garbage can. She started shoving the expired items into the trash, muttering to herself the whole time.

“Maybe, if you weren’t so freaking _useless, _Colleen, this wouldn’t be a problem,” she snarled at herself as she grabbed the sandwich (plate and all) and shoved in the trash.

She turned to go back to the living room, pausing to brace herself against the wall, like she was dizzy all of a sudden.

Green crept closer to her, dipping her head to look at Colleen’s face as she was bowed over, blinking hard in light from the TV. Green locked eyes with her as they both sat in silence, just… breathing.

Green knew those eyes.

She loved those eyes.

And she wanted to see fire in them. Like there was in her daughter’s.

But that wasn’t going to happen today.

Green blinked, finally allowing tears to form.

Colleen was severely depressed.

Obviously.

She needed _help_.

So, Green was going to something. Even if it was just something small.

Colleen went back to the couch. She curled up under the blankets and quickly fell into a fitful, restless sleep. Bae Bae joined her, plopping down at her feet and letting out a long, drawn-out sigh.

Green waited a few moments, to be sure she was asleep.

Then she got to work.

She couldn’t do too much, she didn’t want Colleen to wake up to a perfectly clean house that she couldn’t remember cleaning; that might freak her out a bit. But Green could do a few little things to help get her started.

Green trotted straight to the kitchen and grabbed the trash bags. The logistics of getting them out the door where instead dealt with by tossing the bags out the window, and then phasing herself through the wall to take them to the dump. Thankfully, there was no one around to question a bunch of floating garbage bags seemingly taking themselves out. Green snorted at the image.

She stood in front of the laundry room, reviewing memories in her head of what Pidge had done here in the past. She stopped when she saw Pidge unscrewing the lid to the detergent.

Yeah, no. She couldn’t do that. Sorry, Colleen, you’re going to have to figure that out on your own.

Green suddenly laughed at herself. Ah, the might Lion of Voltron! Defeated by a lack of apposable thumbs! She can defy the laws of nature by transmuting metal into organic matter, but she sure can’t do laundry!

She assumed she was going to meet a similar roadblock with the dishes.

She huffed, eyes wondering until they landed on the bills. The electric one concerned her the most, as it was going to be shut off if not paid by tomorrow. Green saw a note Colleen had left on the fridge reminding her to pay it today… but she’d clearly forgotten.

Well, that could be fixed!

Green trotted over to where Colleen’s phone lay on the coffee table. Pidge was a phenomenal hacker, but Green wasn’t too shabby herself. She made a small Connection to the phone and waltzed right over the power plant’s website and paid the bill. Simple! While she was there, she set some reminders in the phone: one to get up and get a shower, another to get out of the house and take a walk, and another to go get groceries.

Green then walked around to every plant in the house and breathed life back into it. She wasn’t the Guardian of the Forest for nothing! As each plant slowly recovered, Green popped another reminder into the phone:

_Water the plants, you heathen! _

Hopefully, Colleen would think she’d done all these things and simply forgotten. Green had a feeling that Colleen hadn’t even noticed the plants were dead, and so, she wouldn’t notice they’d miraculously come back to life either.

Finally, she went to each window and pulled the curtains open. Hopefully, the morning light would inspire her to try and get some of these things done tomorrow.

Green could only hope.

As she pulled the last curtain in the living room open, the late afternoon light burst through the window and hit Colleen straight in the face. She jerked her head up, blinking against the light, staring straight at Green.

Green froze. She wasn’t completely invisible, just camouflaged! Could Colleen maybe see her silhouetted against the window? 

Colleen blinked and laid back down. After a moment her breathing slowed again, and so did Green’s heartrate.

Green looked around the room, satisfied that she’d done what she could.

It was really time for her to get going; Yellow was probably having a conniption waiting for her to return.

But first, she walked over to Colleen and very gently pressed her muzzle to the side of her face.

_Everything’s going to get better, Mom. We’re going to find Matt and Dad. And I’m going to bring them and Katie home to you, I promise. _

She nuzzled her gently and started to back away.

Colleen twitched in her sleep, eyes flickering.

“…Katie?” she murmured.

Green paused. _Almost. _she said gently.

“Mmm…” Colleen mumbled.

_It’s going to okay. _

“Promise?”

_Promise. _

“…Okay. Love you. Be good.”

Green chuckled as Colleen fell back to sleep.

_Love you too. _

***

Green’s head _throbbed _as she released the Connection.

Yeah, oh wow… she was _exhausted. _She’d been gone way too long. It wasn’t quite as draining as last time though, so that was a plus. She could probably form Voltron, if needed.

Probably.

_That was a lot longer than a few minutes! _An accusatory voice rang in her head.

_I made it back, didn’t I? _Green asked drily.

_Green, please, you’re supposed to be the GOOD little sister. I have enough reckless idiocy in Red to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. _Yellow sounded more amused than upset, despite the whining. _Did you at least accomplish what you set out to do?_

Green looked down at Pidge sleeping peacefully on her paw. She was going to find some way to tell Pidge that Colleen would be alright. Imply that it was some kind of Lion’s intuition or something.

_Yeah, I did. _She said softly.

Yellow purred, proud.

_Good girl. _

***

A few years and a lot of space-time nonsense later, Green found herself on Earth, sitting in her new hanger on the ATLAS. Below her, Pidge rambled on excitedly to her mother as they stood side by side, gazing up at Green.

Green looked at Colleen and was struck again with how much _better _she looked. Green had watched, thrilled, the day they arrived on Earth, as Colleen had run to Pidge and sank into her daughter’s koala hug. The last three years spent with Sam had done wonders for her health. Gone was the despondent woman Green had visited so long ago. And instead, the Colleen she knew from Pidge’s memories was back and stronger than ever, especially now that Matt had returned.

Her family had come home.

All of them.

Colleen was staring up at Green, squinting like she was trying to figure something out.

Green rumbled.

_I promised, didn’t I? _

She knew Colleen couldn’t hear her, and she hadn’t projected the thoughts to Pidge, but she couldn’t help herself.

She swore she saw Colleen smile.

“…and she’s got this awesome laser gun that makes vines explode out of ships and stuff!” Pidge finished, finally drawing a breath.

She looked at her mother, grinning widely. “Well, what do you think?”

Colleen hadn’t looked away from Green yet.

“I love her,” Colleen said, making Pidge bounce in place with happiness, “She brought you home.”

Colleen looked up at Green.

“Thank you!” she called up to her.

Green chuckled, watching them both fondly.

Their eyes were the same, bright and full of fire.

_Glad to have you back, Mom._

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea of the Green Lion visiting Colleen, finding out she's depressed, and helping her out with it for a while now. It's been floating around in my head for like over a year, but I couldn't think of how to put it into words until I saw the "Lost" prompt for Whumptober, and yeah, that summed it up pretty well for me. 
> 
> My biggest issue here was that I didn't want to just start from the Green Lion entering the house, so I decided to add a brief explanation to the beginning to show how she got there. Which means I had to use head cannons that I've been building on in my head for a year, and in order to do THAT I need to explain even more things, and then 3,000 words later I was like "Sarah, nothing about this explanation is brief", and now look what I've done.
> 
> Lion head cannon's. I just can't keep them out of my fics. I head cannon the Green Lion to be younger than the others, and she picks up on a lot a phrases and personality traits from Pidge. 
> 
> For a Whumptober piece, it's not super-angsty, but I hope I conveyed how hopeless and useless depression makes you feel, cuz... yeah, it sucks. I won't be doing all of the Whumptober prompts, but I hope to get out a few more out at least :)


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